Emmerdale boss defends Tom King dog abuse scenes as she breaks silence on backlash

Emmerdale producer Laura Shaw has responded to complaints made by ITV viewers, after horrifying scenes last month.

A flurry of complaints were made to Ofcom in May, after Tom King was seen drugging his adorable dog Piper to make her sick on purpose. Tom was shown injecting Piper with a needle, telling her she was going to be okay.

It was all part of a ploy to get Belle Dingle to return home, amid the soap’s devastating coercive control storyline. The scenes angered fans who raced to complain about the show for “going too far”.

Little Piper was shown laying motionless after being drugged, leaving fans distressed while the soap released a statement to assure fans that the dog portraying Piper was okay. Following the backlash, producer Laura has now spoken out about the scenes for the first time, explaining why they were important.

Laura explained that through research, the team found that abusers often used and targeted family pets. Laura went on to add there could be more scenes involving Piper ahead.

She said to The Mirror and other press: “Having that cute dog, I don’t think it’s helped. Whenever you put any sort of pet in danger on Emmerdale or anything, everyone goes up in arms about it.

“So did I expect it? Yeah, but Piper will definitely have a future role in the story. And you know, and again this is research led, I’m joking about it but it’s research led.

“One of the things that we found was that it is what abusers [do], they will use the family pet, the people that you love, they’ll use them as weapons against you. So this is all based on research. I promise you it’s not just us being mean to the dog for the sake of it.”

Tom actor James Chase discussed the future for his character, hinting at some point the truth will come out. He said: “I think it has to happen because it’s what he deserves. He can’t get away with it. I don’t know to what extent [how it will end]. Belle needs justice for what’s happened to her and the audience needs that.

“We have to see her win in the end or for him to lose.” Not wanting to give away what this ending might be, James teased Tom should “at least” face prison. But Laura warned it was far from over and there was more ahead, saying: “What we will see is Tom finding different ways to manipulate Belle and control Belle. We will see an escalation.”